Sandusky, 41, has been trying to keep his medical marijuana dispensaries open in Upland, Moreno Valley and Colton.

On Tuesday, raids were conducted on the three dispensaries as well as his Rancho Cucamonga home and the Rialto home of his partner John Nuckolls.

On Wednesday, Sandusky, the president of G3 Holistic Inc., was involved in a 4th District Court of Appeal case in Riverside that could determine if Upland can legally ban his marijuana dispensary and ultimately set a precedent in the state for how cities and counties regulate marijuana dispensaries.

"I'm in a pickle," said Sandusky, a former real estate agent, on Friday.

Once in real estate

Sandusky said his father died of brain cancer when he was 8 years old and was raised by a single mother.

He attended Gladstone High School in Covina but he dropped out and did not graduate.

Sandusky, who is single with no children, said he later got his real estate license and eventually worked in Rancho Cucamonga for now-Assemblyman Mike Morrell, R-Rancho Cucamonga.

In 2008, Sandusky's life started to change when the booming real estate market went bust.

Soon thereafter, he received a recommendation for a medical marijuana card to fight gout when other medications didn't work as well.

Sandusky decided to try his business hand at operating a medical marijuana dispensary after finding other facilities were not up to his standards.

"We put in our money to get started and got additional support from other members," he said.

"It's expensive to operate. Imagine talking to a landlord and saying you are a medical marijuana cooperative. In some cases, they try to double the rent because of the (negative) exposure to them."

At Sandusky's Ontario warehouse where the marijuana was grown, the electricity bill was $20,000 a month and workers would spent up to 13 hours a day to maintain the product.

"We have a lot of patients to provide for," Sandusky said.

Sandusky estimated he made a salary of about $85,000 last year from running G3. His organization had 50 employees who no longer have employment or health insurance since the raids.

G3 Collective opened at Suite F4 at 1710 W. Foothill Blvd. in Upland in 2009 and closed in August 2010 after the city filed an injunction in West Valley Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga.

During the closure, G3 opened another facility in Moreno Valley at 12276 Perris Blvd., Suite B. The landlord was the same as the Upland facility.

In 2011, G3 opened a facility at 1231 E. Washington St., Suite D in Colton.

Sandusky filed a stay against the Upland injunction and is appealing the city's prohibitions of medical marijuana dispensaries in the court in Riverside.

A stay was granted on June 20, allowing the cooperative to operate until Sandusky's appeal on Wednesday was heard. A decision is expected with 90 days.

Handcuffs at warehouse

When the raids took place Tuesday, Sandusky said he was in the Ontario warehouse and was handcuffed with a gun put to his head.

"I was surprised the day before my appeal court case, I was raided," Sandusky said. "I'm thinking it was more than just a coincidence."

The warrant said between January and August, the total deposits to G3 accounts were more than $3.3 million while total debits were more than $3.2 million.

"I believe that the movement of funds by Aaron Sandusky - particularly the rough equality of the debits and credits - is intended to maintain the facade of G3 Holistic as a non-profit organization," according to the search warrants from Patrick Kelly, special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In the affidavit, undercover deputies who had no health problems and carried phony recommendations purchased marijuana from each collective, according to the affidavit.

Sandusky disputes the charge that he is not a nonprofit organization.

He is also upset over the issue of undercover officers buying marijuana at his dispensaries.

Sandusky said he doesn't know how his organization can be expected to check the health of medical marijuana patients when a doctor had given them a valid medical marijuana card.

Sandusky also wondered how the federal government can raid his dispensaries when he has a state appeal court ordered stay to be open.

"Marijuana is illegal under federal law, which specifically prohibits the possession, transportation and cultivation of the drug," said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles in an e-mailed response.

Sandusky also said the city of Upland had helped push federal agents to raid his dispensary.

Upland City Attorney William Curley said in an e-mail that the City Council had previously sent a letter to Andre Birotte, the U.S. attorney in charge of the Central District of California, asking for help to respond to the growing number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

"The City Council, in its request, did not target any single dispensary or person, but instead asked for any available assistance to address the several dispensaries in the city," Curley wrote.

Curley added the four U.S. attorneys representing the four California districts had determined on their own the Department of Justice should get involved before an Oct. 7 news conference in Sacramento where medical marijuana dispensary crackdowns were announced.

At Sandusky's raided Upland dispensary on Friday, a sign on the door said closed and the power was shut off. A "bud bar" where customers were given their medical marijuana was empty, but still had a strong, lingering smell of pot.

Sandusky said he did not know what his next steps would be or if he could reopen.